1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processors and more particularly to processors that execute Java™ bytecodes.
2. Background Information
Java™ is a programming language that, at the source code level, is similar to object oriented programming languages such as C++. Java™ language source code is compiled into an intermediate representation based on a plurality “bytecodes” that define specific tasks. In some implementations, the bytecodes are further compiled to machine language for a particular processor. In order to speed the execution of Java™ language programs, some processors are specifically designed to execute some of the Java™ bytecodes directly.
Many times, a processor that directly executes Java™ bytecodes is paired with a general purpose processor so as to accelerate Java™ program execution in a general or special purpose machine. It would be advantageous to provide accelerations, similar to those seen for directly executed Java™ bytecodes, in other languages and development environments.